Mother smothered son, 3, but murder verdict is quashed

A mother jailed for smothering her three-year-old son with a pillow has had her murder conviction quashed after the Appeal Court ruled it could not be sure she intended to kill the child.

Three judges allowed an appeal by Tara Haigh and substituted a verdict of manslaughter. The ruling follows several high-profile cases but Haigh's murder conviction was only overturned on the grounds of intent.

Haigh, 24, was found guilty by a 10-2 majority at the Old Bailey of murdering her son Billy at their home in Guildford, in November 2005. She was jailed for life with a minimum of 10 years.

Lord Justice Dyson, sitting with Mrs Justice Swift and Mr Justice Sweeney, has now ruled that the murder conviction was "unsafe". She will remain in custody until she is sentenced again.

In her trial, the Old Bailey jury was told that Haigh had started trying to find a boyfriend on the website Girls Date Free within hours of suffocating the boy.

The court heard that she even arranged a date with one man, posting a message saying her son had died from a tumour.

Launching her appeal, Haigh's lawyers argued that it was impossible for the jury to reach a "rational conclusion as to her intent".

Today Lord Justice Dyson said the prosecution had acknowledged that "there was evidence from which the jury could conclude that the appellant snapped and smothered Billy".

He added: "The difficulty for the prosecution was that there was no evidence on which the jury could reasonably decide whether the appellant had the intent to kill or to cause really serious harm on the one hand, or the lesser mental intent which was sufficient for manslaughter on the other hand.

"Without that evidence they could only speculate. We are driven to conclude that the murder conviction is unsafe."